Arts Listings

POETRY READING TO HONOR GINSBERG 

An outdoor poetry reading in honor of Allen Ginsberg and National Poetry Month will be held from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the Berkeley home where he wrote portions of his landmark “Howl!” The home, at 1624 Milvia St., is now the site of a poetry garden dedicated to Ginsberg. The event will feature poet/writer/teacher G Reyes.  

KEVIN BROWNLOW AT PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 

Silent film historian, archivist and documentarian Kevin Brownlow will make the last of his three San Francisco International Film Festival appearances at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Pacific Film Archive, when he will present an introduction to silent film. The program will feature clips and short films from different genres, nations and eras within silent film, along with discussion of each and accompaniment by pianist Judith Rosenberg. $10-12. 2575 Bancroft Way. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. www.sfiff.org. 

Brownlow, the author of the silent era oral history The Parade’s Gone By and producer of many documentaries, including Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow, will also appear at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, where the festival will present him with the Mel Novikoff award, followed by a screening of Brownlow’s recent preservation of Douglas Fairbanks’ The Iron Mask; and at 9:15 p.m. Saturday at the Kabuki Theater, where he will present his new documentary about the life and career of legendary director Cecil B. DeMille.  

LIBRARY HOSTS FREE OPERA PERFORMANCE 

The Berkeley Opera will hold a free concert at 2 p.m. Saturday in the third-floor Community Room of the Berkeley Public Library. 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.